NFL notebook: Seneca Valley grad Barclay tears ACL in Packers camp

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Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014, 7:51 p.m.

Packers tackle Don Barclay suffered a torn ACL in training camp and is expected to miss the 2014 season, the Green Bay Press Gazette reported. Barclay, a Seneca Valley and West Virginia product, was carted off the field after injuring his right knee.

“It was in a blitz drill,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “He got himself in a bad position. He's being evaluated. … They don't come any better than him.”

He started 14 games last season and was expected to be the backup at right tackle and both guard positions this year.

Browns DBs wear boxing gloves in practice

The Browns are ready to rumble.

To prepare for the NFL's crackdown on defensive holding this season, the team is making its cornerbacks and safeties wear boxing gloves during training camp practices. The smaller, mitten-like gloves — used by kickboxers and in mixed martial arts — are meant to deter players from latching on to the jerseys of wide receivers, an allowable tactic in the past but one that will draw a penalty flag now.

One of the Browns doesn't think the gloves are useful.

“Not for me,” rookie Justin Gilbert said. “I haven't gotten any holding calls. We have a couple of guys that have a couple of holding calls. So that means everybody's got to wear the gloves.”

Gilbert said he drew “a couple” holding calls at Oklahoma State, but he questioned whether he was guilty of any violation.

“They weren't really penalties, but flags were thrown,” he said.

Bears suspend, fine TE Bennett

Tight end Martellus Bennett was suspended indefinitely by the Bears after an altercation in practice the day before.

General manager Phil Emery says the team “made a decision to fine and suspend Martellus Bennett for an undetermined length of time,” though he wouldn't specify the amount of the fine.

On Monday, Bennett was taken to the ground with a grab to the shoulder by rookie cornerback Kyle Fuller. The play occurred during a full-pad scrimmage when players are not supposed to be taken to the ground. Bennett responded by getting up, grabbing the first-round draft pick and slamming him to the ground.

Emery wouldn't go into specifics about why the decision was made, saying only that Bennett “was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team.”

Sprinkle, football's ‘meanest man,' dies at 90

Ed Sprinkle, a star defensive end for the Chicago Bears in the 1940s and ‘50s who was called the “meanest man” in football, has died. He was 90.

He died July 28 in the Chicago suburb of Palos Heights, daughter Susan Withers said.

Sprinkle played for the Bears from 1944 to 1955 under coach George Halas, including the 1946 championship team. Sprinkle was elected to the Chicago Sports Hall of Fame in 1984.

“He loved playing football and his whole career he never went to another football team,” Withers said.

Despite being only 200 pounds, Sprinkle was labeled the “meanest man” in football in a Collier's magazine article in 1950. He was nicknamed “The Claw” for using his forearm to deliver blows to opponents. He leveled plenty of quarterbacks, although it was hard to say how many because he played long before such statistics were kept.

“He said in one game he knows he had five sacks,” Withers said.

Sprinkle served with the U.S. Navy. He went into the carpeting and tile business after football and also owned a bowling alley. He stayed active with the NFL, playing in charity golf outings.

Saints owner Benson treated for breathing trouble

Saints owner Tom Benson was treated and released from a hospital after he had trouble breathing while watching practice in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.

Team spokesman Greg Bensel said the 87-year-old Benson is “fine” after being given oxygen. Bensel said doctors at a hospital in Lewisburg put Benson through a series of tests and “did not find any issues or complications.”

Bensel says Benson apparently has struggled with the altitude and dehydration at times during training camp in the Allegheny Mountains. The Saints' practice fields are at an elevation of about 2,000 feet, whereas much of New Orleans is at sea level.

Benson also was treated for similar dehydration symptoms on July 29, but hasn't missed any training camp practices, which began on July 25.

Around the league

Jets rookie safety Calvin Pryor, who just returned from a concussion, will not play in the team's preseason opener against the Colts on Thursday night. … The Bears worked out veteran free agent receivers Santonio Holmes and Ben Obomanu, ESPN reported.

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